Ala Fine, il Mio Amore Distutto Me
by Illisandria Carthain
Summary: One day an alien comes and lands on the small backwater planet called Earth and meets someone who makes him wanna stay forever. AU. ZADR. Character Death.
1. The Dream Begins

Love was an emotion Invaders weren't allowed to have. That was my first mistake.

-x-

When I landed on that Irk-forsaken ball of dirt five Earth years and six months ago I thought I had found the most stupid sentient beings in the entire universe! The inhabitants of this spinning planet of filth were so ignorant and unaware of their surroundings I could've danced completely nude in front of them gargling deep-fried vort dogs while singing a blortian love ballad and they wouldn't have noticed. In fact, even though my base-making was very loud they only peered out their windows and doorways at my amazing home in surprise as if they thought I had always lived there and I had only made a bunch of normal domicile noises. Needless to say, they rarely noticed anything out of the ordinary with one exception, a small human female named Dib.

-x-

I had decided that, in order to know my enemy better, I had to learn like my enemy which meant I had to enroll in Skool. Sadly enough I look like a 12 year-old human smeet; so I had to enroll in a secondary Skool with drooling idiot human pig-stinks. When I entered the room where I would be learning the humans' weaknesses I was barraged by a wave of stares that made my antennae prickle. The teacher introduced me and then told me to say whatever I needed to because she 'didn't want to hear another word from me for the rest of the year!!!!'.

I smiled as sweetly as I could without puking and said, "Hello friends. I am a perfectly normal human worm-baby. You have nothing, absolutely _nothing _to fear. Just ignore me and we'll get along just fine." then I retreated to my seat satisfied that I had fooled the entire class. The only one who seemed to know what I was was a small big-headed female human with black hair and brown eyes hidden behind big oval glasses. She pointed at me with utter horror written all over her face while our teacher droned on and on and on about how the planet was 'doomed...' after I questioned her about the planet's defenses.

"Okaaay, does anyone else see the alien in the class?" she asked, the entire class looking around dumbly for the 'alien' in the class, "there!!!!" she pointed at me, "right there!!!!! That's no kid, that's an alien, an alien!!!!!! One of the monsters I've been talking about!"

As I began to sweat nervously and reached for my 'self-destruct' button the girl that sat behind me sighed, "uugh, not this again. You're crazy."

"What about his horrible green head?!!!!"

"**Insolent fool girl**-it's a skin condition..." I lied smoothly.

"And he's got no ears!!! Is that part of your skin condition Zim?!!! _No ears_?!!!"

I bowed my head down meekly, "Yes..."

"Man Dib...you think just cause someone's different you can call them an alien?" one kid replied disgusted by her behavior.

"I guess that makes old kid an alien too huh?" another small human pointed back at an old man who waved cheerily.

She tried a different approach, walking up to the board, "okay so this is us" she pointed at a crudely drawn human, "and over here-" she pointed at a crudely drawn representation of me, "over here is Zim. See the difference?!! Huh? Anyone? Anyone?!!! Questions?..."

One kid raised his eyebrow in amusement, "yeah man what's wrong with you? All you ever talk about is aliens and ghosts and seeing Bigfoot in your garage!!"

She looked downtrodden, "he was using the belt sander..."

I tried to appear normal, "yeah she's always sayin stuff, I remember that one time-Whew..."

She interrupted me, "Hey you just got here! Don't let him fool you, I know what I'm talking about and there it is sitting right there!!" the class mumbled agreements and I began to worry, "finally I have proof that every thing I've been saying is true! Proof that I'm - that I'm-"

I imitated her voice, "I'm crazy" the class agreed with my fake statement and she glared at me with unmasked hatred. I, of course being one to never back down from a challenge, glared right beck and something somewhere inside of me clicked.

-x-

At that moment the bell rang and we all were dismissed. Outside the Skool I was confronted once again by Dib, "Zim! Your cruddy disguise may have fooled everyone else but they'll see."

"No one will believe you..."

"They will if I bring you without your disguise." she pulled something out of her trench coat pocket that looked like two metal rings on a chain, "I ordered this from one of my UFOzines."

"ooh it's pretty, what is it?"

"Alien sleep-cuffs, guaranteed to render all alien life-forms unconscious."

"How do you know it works if you've never found an alien before?"

She grinned, "I'm gonna find out right now" she leapt at me yelling crazily.

-x-

What followed that statement was a chase that made my heart race faster than when I was in the Irken Training facility on Acadamius, the learning planet. It was an epic chase in which I leapt over the primitive Earth vehicles, vaulted over stacks of random useless objects and getting mauled by a small hairy Earth-creature referred to as God (I think). The greatest satisfaction I got however, was pushing the impertinent human into the path of the vicious creature and watching her get attacked as well.

The only mistake I made was summoning my 'advanced' SIR unit, GIR, to my aid; he rushed over in disguise which was good, but he was using his standard issue rockets, leaving a smoke trail behind us as we fled to the base in the cul-de-sac which led the Dib-person to our ingeniously disguised base.

When the chase was over, having trailed us to where we were stationed, the Dib ran up to my front door, banging on it angrily. She vowed she would hunt me forever and ever and ever. Well, she did up until my gnome guards zapped her sleep-cuffs vaporizing them; then she went home vowing revenge and declaring she would stop me for the 'good of Earth'.

After she left I felt this strange feeling in my chest like a longing of a sort. Here I had found the chance to redeem myself and I also found a worthy adversary, one who could match me at every move! So why did I feel so...sad? I reported to the Tallest (who looked rather surprised to see me) about my mission and how it was progressing. Then I fell into the charging stasis needed for our PAKs, that aching feeling still lingering in my torso cavity.

-x-

This was the beginning of the end.

-x-

**End Chapter 1**


	2. Far too Late

The four and a half years that followed that incident were filled with a vicious game of 'hero and villain' with me portraying the 'villain' for the most part. Somehow I was never the 'hero'. I never quite got that.

-x-

She and I , we had an odd relationship. While she openly stated her hatred for me, insisting that she would one day expose and vivisect me (of which all previous attempts to do so had been pointless) and would hunt me to the ends of the Earth even if she was old and decrepit.

I on the other hand had a mixed reaction; on one hand I hated her for even existing to foil my every plan. On the other hand I enjoyed her very presence—the way she smiled when victory for her seemed so close at hand, the way her eyes glittered when she launched into a seemingly pointless tirade on 'ghost' or 'bigfoot', the way she got along with GIR, even bringing him chocolate-bubblegum SuckMunkees when she came over to 'play'. Yet despite all this I could never quite find a term, Irken or human, that was synonymous with the feeling I got around her—this empty feeling in my torso cavity, the longing to be in her presence, the conflict and turmoil that raged inside me when she crossed my mind, the way my heart rate skyrocketed when she said even one syllable to me. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I confused myself.

-x-

Months went by bringing my fifth year on Earth to an end and still the answer to my question of my feelings towards Dib eluded me at every turn. In fact, it had gotten to the point where I spent all my time trying to figure out what was wrong with me that I had no time to plan ingenious schemes to take over the Earth for the Tallest. Actually, I had completely forgotten to contact them at all.

Nevertheless, one day Dib came up and confronted me on my 'lax evil' as she so eloquently put it, "What is wrong with you?"

"Huh?..." I asked confused by her question.

"Once your plans were the bane of my existence, my every moment spent trying to stop them from ever coming to full fruition but lately they've been…**pathetic** for a lack of a better word. It seems as if you're just taunting me with bouts of neutral-evil!" Her tone changed from that of pure logic to that hysteria, the one she got when she began to rant. "If you're planning to use that as a tactic for lulling me into a false sense of security then prepare to be disappointed! I'll always be vigilant, even when I am old and near death I will keep a watchful eye on you! I will protect the Earth from your Irken armada!!!!"

"What makes you think that I'd ever tell you anything about my evil plans? I will not fall for your simple human 'reverse-psychology' tricks! **I WILL SAY NOTHING!!!!!**" I crowed, my extended stay on this planet having fixed my poor knowledge of the grammatical structure of their language.

"All I'm saying is if you don't pick up the pace, I'm going to expose you and then I'll be the one gloating over your cut-up corpse!!!" She stated coldly.

As I watched her retreat I began to wonder, _What was that?! Did she just warn me or was that some kind of threat?! Does she care for me or something?!_ My minds occupied, I walked home (funny that I should see it as home now, after referring to it as my base for so long).

-x-

When I arrived I was greeted by the usual wailing cacophony: a combination of the robot-parents' usual greeting and other defective noises, GIR and his usual insanity, the television playing that ridiculous theme song, and Minimoose squeaking angrily at the computer which retorted with a barrage of **[NU-UH]**s and **[NO IT ISN'T]**s. Once he noticed me, GIR swung his head in my direction and screamed in his usual stupid manner "master!!!!! did you bring me more suckmunkee? I ran out a second ago and now have brain - freeze -and-—" He promptly exploded, leaving his smoking corpse on the ground.

Minimoose squeaked a question, "No…sadly he'll be fine in a few minutes when the self-repair functions kick in.." I answered then I turned to the mass of robotic failure that conglomerated in my home with obvious distaste. "If, and **only** if, someone is at the door or the Dib-monkey has gotten in again, I'll be in the second-level stasis room." I flushed myself to the room I was looking for and sat in my reclining chair as I scanned the monitoring screens. Then it hit me, "Computer"

**[YES?...]** its bored voice emanated from the surrounding area.

"Run an emotional diagnostic."

**[ON YOU?]**

"No, on GIR -** OF COURSE ON ME YOU HUNK OF SCRAP!!!!**"

**[…EESH. DID YOU HAVE TO BE THAT _HARSH_?]** it seemed to regain its composure,** [OKAY, STATE SYMPTOMS FOR ANALYSIS]**

"Empty feeling in my torso cavity, conflicting emotions composed of both hate and an unidentified positive one, intense longing, sudden increase in heart rate and temperature, digression from regular thought processes-"

**[A BRIEF INTERRUPTION MASTER, BUT DO YOUR SYMPTOMS REVOLVE AROUND A THING OR PERSON?]**

I looked at the general area of the computer angry at its insolence, "Who are you to question the mighty **_Zim_**?"

**[JUST ANSWER…]**

"yes…"

The computer paused for a moment, its database processing the data, then it cleared its throat and began again **[SEARCH SHOWS THAT THE EMOTION YOU ARE EXPERIANCING IS LABLED AS 'LOVE']**

"Love?!" I was speechless for a moment, I had only heard of this emotion, for the most part Invaders were only left with hate, apathy, pride, and contentment when it came to an emotional catalogue so the only exposure to 'love' was those sappy Earth movies GIR watched when he couldn't watch the show with that horrid monkey.. "Define 'love'"

**[WELL…IT'S KINDA HARD TO EXPLAIN ACCURATELY…]**

"**JUST DO IT**!!!!"

**[OKAY…HERE GOES…LOVE: _(NOUN)_ A PASSIONATE ATTRACTION/DESIRE TOWARDS SOMEONE/THING. _(VERB)_ TO FEEL TENDER AFFECTION TOWARDS SOME ONE/THING.] there was a pause while I mulled this over then, [WHO IS THE OBJECT OF YOUR AFFECTION?]**

I ignored him. _Love? But love is not allowed!!! There are no known cases of trans-species love involving Irkens since the entire 'Vortian Princess/Blortian Prince/Seven Squeegians' fiasco. No one would dare **think** about committing such an act of high treason! Their life-term would be prematurely terminated! But me and Dib?—_ Then it clicked. The reason I had been needlessly prolonging my stay on Earth when I could be just as well fighting for the glory of the Tallest on Meekrob, the reason I vied to even get her hatred directed at me, the reason I needed her around was because I loved her!! I loved Dib, daughter of Membrane, sister of the oh-so-scary Gaz was the one I wanted to mingle DNA with!!!! The very thought made me shiver in anticipation. But just as I had pieced together the puzzle, GIR called down in a high-pitched voice.

"master!!!!! the big-headed dib-girl is here and she brought me a suckmunkee!!!! she says she wants to see yooooou~" he squealed in ecstatic glory and disappeared from sight.

Composing myself and readjusting my wig and contacts, I rode the elevator to the main room, exiting from the pod hidden in the trashcan. "Dib" I sneered convincingly, "What are **you **doing here?"

"Zim…I came to tell you" she stared at her feet, then looked me in the eyes sadly, "I'm going away…and I won't be coming back."

-x-

**End Chapter 2**


	3. Madness!

I never realized how much I really needed her, what I was willing to do for her, until the day I thought I would lose her. It's funny how life that works that way.

-x-

At first I thought it was a sick joke, like she had found out about my affection for her and she was using it to make me let my guard down, "You—my greatest enemy—leave? You lie, YOU **LIIIIIIE!!!!!** I will not fall for your puny big-headed mind tricks! I am Ziiiiim, mighty Irken invader, not some stupid monkey that's distracted by every little thing!" I haughtily met her eyes and then lowered mine in disbelief, "Y-you really _are_ leaving, aren't you?"

"yup!!!!! mister professor membrane sayz his girly-girl is way too craaazy for believing in us so hes gonna send her to a nut house, where the squirrels go when they die!!!!!" GIR raved, part of his statement making sense.

"Then who will stand in the way of the mighty Zim?" I tried to sound indifferent but failed.

"No one" she stated calmly, "My sister Gaz is the only other human that believes you exist and she doesn't care enough to stop you so long as you don't mess with her videogames."

"Why is the Membrane-man locking you, the antagonist of my life, up?"

"Since I haven't come up with any 'conclusive' evidence of paranormal activity for five years now, I'm obviously a 'raving lunatic'" she made the human air-quote gesture sarcastically, "So they're coming to take me away to the Crazy Co-Ed House for Boys. The White Coats, that is. I suppose I'll see you again when you rule the world, or if you decide to come and gloat about me being 'trapped like the stinking vermin you are'" she did a cruel caricature of my voice and turned to leave.

"Wait, I—" I extended a hand out to stop her but by the time the words were out of my mouth she had left, "love you…" Broken-hearted, I sat down on the couch, put my head in my hands and wept the Irken equivalent of tears.

"awwwwwww, why is master sad?" GIR had chocolate-bubblegum SuckMunkee dripping from his mouth, "shes gone now and you can rule the earth like you wanted to for your masters five years ago!"

"But she's **gone** GIR!" I shouted angrily, "And I want to be near her all the time more than I want to rule the Earth or please the Tallest!"

"soooo, why dont you go see her, im sure that theyll be nice an let her go if you ask…"

"They wouldn't." I began to feel despair well up inside of me when Minimoose voiced (squeaked) a great idea. "Of course!" I turned to face the little purple WMD and grinned antennae to antennae, "Thanks!!!!" I had to prepare for the upcoming badness, it was going to be a long fight and an Invader, especially one of the Irken Elite, needs to look their best in the face of Impending Doom.

-x-

I found her on the fifteenth floor locked up in a padded cell wearing what the humans called a 'straightjacket'. She rushed over to the barred window and glared at me sleepily, the drugs they had given her doping her up so she couldn't speak right. "Zim…what're you doing…here?" she slurred.

I grinned as nastily as I could, "What does it look like filthy human-stink? I'm freeing you from this padded room so as I can perform horrid experiments on you so I know how to hurt your people when the Bio-sweep begins." Her eyes opened wide, even though she was barely conscious, she still knew that that was trouble. She began to scream as I blasted the doors open with my PAK's lasers and promptly grabbed her. "Go ahead" I cackled evilly as I exited the building, "Scream all you want, I need an audience for this spectacle…" her shrieks echoed through the air vents we were traveling through and were heard throughout the entire facility drawing the attention of the White Coats and the Swollen Eyeball member that was hidden in it.

Even though she flailed and thrashed around, we managed to reach the roof of the Crazy Co-Ed House for Boys just as the news crew arrived, their levi-cameras floating in front of the surgically altered Reporter. The mob at the base of the House gasped as I stood on my PAK's spider legs holding the small teenage girl aloft triumphantly. "FILTHY HUMANS, HERE IN MY HANDS I HAVE YOUR LAST HOPE. THE ONLY PERSON THAT KNEW OF MY EXISTANCE, AND TRIED TO STOP IT, AND YOU CALLED HER 'CRAZY' AND LOCKED HER UP! THANKS TO YOU, I NOW HAVE HAD TIME TO CONTACT THE MOTHERSHIP WHICH WILL CONTACT THE FLEET—" I used references from other alien movies I had seen, "SOON YOU ALL WILL BE DEAD. BUT ENJOY YOUR LAST MOMENTS IN ONE PIECE BY REMEMBERING THAT THIS COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED IF YOU HAD JUST LISTENED TO THIS ONE GIRL! HAVE FUN!!!!" I jumped off the roof and headed home, knowing full well that they would follow me in an angry mob fashion.

-x-

When I arrived there, I released her from the confines of the straitjacket, "What are you doing?! I thought that I was to be the first 'great human experiment'!"

"Of course **Dib**, but before I rend you limb from limb in a festive manner, I need a good audience for it. I mean, where's the fun in doing this when no one knows about it or is there to watch?" I smiled sweetly, "And they should be here right—now."

That's the exact moment the angry mob busted down the front door of my amazingly clever base led by Dib's father Professor Membrane who shouted angrily, "There the alien is, **GET HIM**!!!"

"What makes you think I'll go quietly?" I asked slyly but before I could comment more something unexpected happened. I felt Dib's hands grab my arms from behind, heard a soft 'click' noise and then—darkness.

-x-

**End Chapter 3**


	4. Tick Tock

All those years I've spent trying to destroying the Earth, I never once stopped to see how pretty it really was; of course, now it's too late for that, it's too late for anything really…far too late.

-x-

When I woke up I realized a few things immediately. First, I was suspended in a crude human life preservation tank in a lab somewhere. Second, I was covered in wires - they were coming from every imaginable place at every imaginable angle. Third, I was not feeling all that great. _Of course…_I thought, _Even when I try to play the 'hero' I'm still treated like the 'villain'…figures…_ Just then I notice something that made my life goo run cold—my PAK!

There, on the surgical table across from me, lay my PAK open wide and obviously tampered with as wires stuck out from the interface port and were frayed at some ends. My brain meats whirled, _How am I still alive? Why have I not seen a Life-clock? I'm not attached to my PAK so I should be dead! How—_

"Surprised?" I heard a cold voice echo from the other side of the dimly-lit lab, "When I heard the news I had to rush over and see what all the fuss was about. What did I see but my daughter and her little foreign friend that, surprise-surprise, was an alien like she said!" Professor Membrane chuckled softly, darkly "So when she clasped those sleep-cuffs on you and you collapsed I took her home and took you to my lab to be studied." He glanced at my PAK, amused, "Funny little thing, that…PAK? From what I learned, this little object is the every thing that allows you to survive but it also acts as a second brain and works like a Swiss-army knife. Also, I found out that your language is similar to a hybrid between Egyptian hieroglyphics and both of the Japanese kana alphabets so once I broke the code I had access to your files on your house and your mission…your race is so advanced! Their technology is eons ahead of ours and more so, they've gotten to a point where there's nothing left to do but invade other planets and eat snacks! They've evolved beyond their original constructs!!!! However, there is a drawback or two to your genetic engineering, your kind are allergic to water, hypoglycemic, and allergic to seventy percent of all other life-sustaining food, but—you heal very quickly and you have your original strength tenfold! It's just so…fascinating, this extraterrestrial science…" He muttered to himself giddily, off on a rant somewhat like the ones Dib launched into.

I cleared my throat and stuttered slightly, "Um…human? What are you doing with my PAK?! How am I still alive? That PAK is **Zim**, it is all I am, it is the very meaning of myself!!!!!"

"I know…" he turned to face me again, "Turns out, the interface between you and your PAK is quite similar to a linking system I have on my computer so I hooked you up and downloaded all of you into a file on my computer to keep you alive…_for now_." He leaned up against a wall nonchalantly and picked up a small screwdriver and began fiddling with it, "Your little toy is quite similar to a couple of things we have on Earth but now you've given us the ability to expand those fields in science - life-support, AI, robotics - all contained inside this one small disk! And now we also have proof of extraterrestrials and we have means of contacting them!!!!" He launched into another rant, talking more to himself than he was me and as I digested this information, he began to fiddle with my PAK some more. Then he turned to me again, the darkness glinting off of his deep blue goggles, "Funny-" he mused, "That the 'crazy' daughter of the 'Savior of Mankind' was really the 'Protector of Earth' the entire time and deserved far more praise…"

"And you're the one rending me limb-from-limb _**because**_—?" I sneered despite all of the pain I was in.

"She's far too stressed to perform a vivisection right now. After facing true madness in that hell-hole she was in, she needs a bit of time to recuperate. And on top of that, I don't think exposing her to such awful things so soon after that incident would traumatize her."

"May I point out" I began curtly, "That your 'daughter' is seventeen and perfectly capable of making decisions on her own and this so-called 'hell-hole' is the same place you deemed 'suitable for containing my deranged little girl' and 'the best psych-ward in the state'." I felt such contempt towards this fickle man who had so apathetically referred to Dib as 'daughter'. "So I don't think—"

"**SHUT UP!!!!!!**" his anger surprised even himself as he stared down at the bent remains of what was once a screwdriver in his gloved palm, "Enough prattle you cosmic scum. I will not be spoken to in such a manner ever and don't you even hint that I am nothing more than a loving father to them, **NEVER!!!!!**" His voice leveled out but a hint of ice remained and gave him a manic edge, "But I promised her that she would get to do the job so I can't maim and/or kill you but - this leaves **many** other options open so I suggest you keep your little green trap **shut**!" He hissed angrily at me then turned to leave.

"What's her name?"

He looked back at me, surprised, "What?"

"What. Is. Her. Name?" I held eye contact with him for a while, "If you love her so much—tell me her name!" There was a silence, then; he turned away, his reply the sound of the door slamming. "Dib" I sighed, whispered as if she could hear me love her name, "Her name is Dib…" And I helped her get what she had wanted by giving up what I wanted.

-x-

**End Chapter 4**


	5. The Truth

The end was unavoidable, no matter how bad I wished it not so. This had to happen. Please forgive me.

-x-

Six months passed in that stasis tube in Professor Membrane's lab; six **agonizing** months watching scientists come and go, watching them dissect me with their eyes, watching them tear apart Irken technology and trying to reverse-engineer it, watching the Professor pass me by, and watching Dib roam her father's lab looking a tad lost and rather sick. At this point everything had been stripped from me - my pride, my PAK - all of it, gone and I wanted nothing more than to die. When Dib finally came and even made eye contact with me, wheeling a cart full of sharp instruments and followed by three levi-cams, I knew all it was over.

I smiled weakly not having moved or spoken for six whole months, "Hello Dib, are you here to terminate Zim's existence?"

She said nothing and the looked at me, her glasses glinting in the fluorescent lighting, her eyes bleary and dark-ringed. "No, Zim. First I'm going to cut you open and film the entire thing. Then, when I am done with you, having pulled you apart thoroughly enough to know more about your people, then I will pull the plug." Her voice was flat and lacking the fiery passion that made me want her all the more but I knew she was telling the truth. As she lifted me onto the operating table I gasped as cold air hit my skin. Then she quickly plugged my PAK replacement-connection into a small PC on the table and pulled some gloves on.

"Smile for the cameras Dib…" I grinned feebly as she pulled in closer. Then she made the first incision.

-x-

I slipped in and out of consciousness as she proceeded with the observation and vivisection for hours on end. When I finally regained control of my limbs for a bit, I asked her a question that took most of my strength, "Why now?"

"Hm?" she glanced up at me, her face covered with my green life-goo.

"Why cut me open now? You left me at the mercy of your _'father'_ for **six months** and only now do you take an interest in me? You didn't even **look** at me! Why is that?"

She said nothing, searching for the right words, "I - I was going through some tough times and had some questions I needed answers to." She continued with her work, peeling back layer upon layer of my muscled revealing my pulsating squeedelyspooch beneath. "And since we're playing twenty questions, why were you not disguised the day you took me from that place? It's not like you to do something like that, you usually plan more carefully."

"In the rush of the moment…" I winced, the scalpel piercing a tenderer spot in me, unable to conceal that pain, "I forgot that I was going to get you in the middle of the city…I intended to grab you and teleport…to my ship orbiting the Earth…" I took a shaky breath, "GIR, Minimoose, how are they? Are they safe? And my base?..."

She didn't meet my eyes, "They were taken and dismantled. My dad couldn't make more like them, nor could he figure out how they worked so he scrapped them." She sounded sad, "They ransacked your base but the computer self-destructed before they could get more than Nick and the Voot-cruiser out." There was a pause, then, "Why did you come and get me? I can tell that it wasn't entirely for experimental purposes. Why is that?"

"I…I hated to see you in a human's cage…" I lied, "Once an Irken has its eye on something, it is theirs, no questions. You were mine and I was not going to let some filthy humans get in the way of my revenge…" The last part, about the Irkens and property was true, in the greatest sense of the Irken word; she was 'e' (A/N: pronounced 'eh'. It's Japanese and means 'possession of'). The rest was a load of crock, she **should've** known why I'd come to get her, or she would soon… "How are you?"

She blinked, surprised, "Um…I'm…okay, I guess?"

"Is this what you wanted, for people to look at you and think, 'This is the person who saved us from aliens, this girl is a hero!'? Is this what you wanted all those years ago—all those times you tried to expose me—was this what you were working towards?"

"I think so…I mean, they don't call me crazy anymore. But sometimes I see them staring at me like they used to stare at dad and it creeps me out, like 'These people worship the ground I walk on'…It's unnerving but I did want this recognition in the first place so…everything has a price, eh?"

"That's good…" I nodded weakly, my grip on reality loosening, "that's great…"

-x-

Several blurred minutes later I woke again as Dib pulled back her scissors inches from my heart, "Zim…why'd you let me go?"

"Hm?" I opened one eye and tried to focus on her face to no avail, "Heh…finish your job first and then I'll tell you…I'm too tired right now…"

She stood still for a moment then, without a word, she complied to my wishes as I faded out again.

-x-

She woke me as she finished, my organs all removed, my life-goo spilled across the floor, the only thing keeping me alive was the computer; then she unplugged me from even that, severing my ties with life. She gingerly removed her green-tainted gloves and placed her hands in her coat pockets, "Zim…you promised, my answer?"

I sighed softly, "Dib, come close…" She leaned in and shivered as my lips brushed her ear as I leaned forward to tell her the truth I had kept in for those long six months, "I let you go…because I love you…I went and got you…because I need you…I showed the world…who I was…to redeem you…and I lay here now…dying…to glorify you…to write your name…in the stars…because I have **always**…loved you…Dib…" my hand touched her face gently and I felt my life slip out of me as I lay back on the table. My last coherent observation was the feeling of the acid-rain on my face and the sobbed words that fell from the lips of the angel I had longed to be with all my time on Earth.

"Don't go…"

-x-

Love was an emotion Invaders weren't programmed with, it was an emotion we weren't supposed to develop—love for us meant death. But, funnily enough, I have no regrets about loving her. _La vie __céste__ el amore._

-x-

**End Chapter 5**


	6. Epilogue

She sat alone in her second-floor bedroom, her head in her hands, tears running in rivulets down her face. _Why did you have to do that?! Why did you—?_

A small girl with purple hair ran in and tugged on the sleeve of her coat, "Mommy says the tape is on again! Y'wanna watch?" Even _seven years_ after that incident, on the **exact** day it happened they played that video.

She shooed the small child away with a sad dismissive gesture, "No, honey, Auntie doesn't want to watch the video and will you remind your mommy that **you** shouldn't be watching it either." The small child bobbed a curtsy and then ran off. _Heh,_ she thought to herself, _Gaz was bad enough at that age without her making her kids like that…even if she is the head of a major videogame corporation…_ Then she put her head back in her hands as tears trickled down her face, here eyes impassive behind her silver glinting glasses. _Why did you have to say that? Why couldn't you say it sooner…Why didn't I notice?...Because…all those years ago…I loved you too._ Her confession carried to the heavens ringing throughout the sky, _I loved you too Zim._

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**End of Ala Fine, il Mio Amore Distutto Me**

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A/N: Here it is, my ZADR brain-child. Y'know, this is my first ever slash fiction and I think I did pretty good keeping the two of them in a relatively accurate character. Ah well…R&R please! It makes my day when I see E-mails saying someone liked my story enough to tell me so. I give thanks to my friends on FF (kudos goes out to ngrey651 for constantly reviewing this and making me feel good about my writing skill and to gedatsu-kitteh who was kind enough to tell me that they would be reading more of my stories) as well as my friends in real life and all the people who bothered to tell me that I had a gift and should continue writing because it made them smile. I love all of you. Keep on enjoying life and remember, never pass up a moment to tell someone that you love them.


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